Great Yarmouth: Young gull crushed to death by cyclist in ‘callous attack’

A bird was crushed to death by a cyclist in Great Yarmouth in an “horrific act of cruelty”, the RSPCA has said.

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Witnesses saw a young man deliberately ride over the young gull on Crown Street, leaving it paralysed and unable to move, RSPCA Inspector Laura Sayer said.

She was called out to the incident by alarmed members of the public and took the injured gull to a vet, who was left with no choice but to put it to sleep.

Mrs Sayer said: “Two witnesses said they heard the cracking of bones as the youth cycled over him. It was a horrific act of cruelty.

“When I got there the bird was still alive – just – but collapsed and was unable to move. The vet said the bird had been paralysed after his spine had been dislocated by the bike.

“It was so very sad to see the young gull in such distress, especially when its suffering could have been avoided.

“Sadly this kind of incident is not as unusual as you would hope and every year we deal with many cases of such callous attacks on these birds.

“With the school holidays in full swing it is likely this problem will only get worse. More young people will be out and about in the sunshine and likely to come into contact and conflict with gulls.”

Gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, making it illegal to intentionally kill or injure the wild birds. The man, who was riding a green bike with two bags of shopping on his handlebars, was seen riding over the bird at around 6pm on July 29.

People with information about this incident are urged to call 0300 1238018.

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3 comments

Unfortunately I think that recent coverage on the Radio of the problems with Gulls may increase this sort of incident. How would we feel if some creatures decided they had the right to attack and kill us.

Sadly compassion these days seems to be in short supply. There are too many places in the world where innocent people and creatures are being wiped out every day. As the man says 'Do you know which way we are heading, Lincoln County road or Armageddon '